


A Fading Miracle

by bookoftheazuresky



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Angst, Bad Ending, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-31
Updated: 2015-05-31
Packaged: 2018-04-02 02:35:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4042486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookoftheazuresky/pseuds/bookoftheazuresky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spirius agents littered the ground like a flock of poisoned crows, but Julius stumbled through the battlefield only looking for one person. Ludger hadn’t come back from his mission to lead their followers in another direction, which meant that regardless of the state of Julius’ body, he had to find him. No matter what happened, Ludger would always be his little brother, after all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fading Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up with the idea this morning and it wouldn't let go. Sorry not sorry.
> 
> Once again, thanks to matou-sakura for helping me out with ideas and editing.

Spirius agents littered the ground like a flock of poisoned crows, but Julius stumbled through the battlefield only looking for one person. Ludger hadn’t come back from his mission to lead their followers in another direction, which meant that regardless of the state of Julius’ body, he had to find him. No matter what happened, Ludger would always be his little brother, after all.

He caught sight of familiar silver and hurried as much as he was able over to the slack form, his heart barely beating. He fell down beside him, frantically turning him over to check him.

Ludger looked peaceful, his brows unknitted from the grim determination that had made its home on his face of late. His head lolled limply as Julius shook him, at first gently, then with more force. His hands came away wet and red from Ludger’s chest.

“No. No, no, no, no…”

Julius clutched his brother’s cooling body to him and wept.

He had no idea how long he stayed there, cradling Ludger’s dead weight in his arms before he heard someone behind him sigh. “Oh, Julius,” Rideaux said in tones laden with familiar disappointment.  
That wasn’t right. He’d seen Bisley’s soul bridge, before Ludger had decided that the whole world was worth less to him than his brother’s life. That wasn’t…

Rideaux stepped into his line of vision. This wasn’t Rideaux as he had last seen him, adult and vicious and desperate to escape his death sentence. This was the Rideaux he’d fought beside in his youth, a slim, fine-boned teenager with hectic gold eyes. Despite the sleek, clean lines of his clothes, brutal – fatal – injuries marked his throat and the exposed skin of his forearms, the wounds already bled out to white, fair skin tinged with grey.

The teen crouched and reached out, cupping his cheek with cold fingers. He swiped his thumb through the tears still wet on Julius’ face, across the blackened skin. His expression was one he hadn’t seen for a long time, something that had disappeared as this youth had disappeared, swept away by the uncaring rush of time and the distance that had grown between them.

Rideaux said, half-amused sympathy, “Did you really think that you would get what you wanted in the end? You don’t deserve happiness.”

“You’re right,” Julius rasped, his throat raw from weeping. “You always were.”

“Of course.” The young man stood, his dark hair falling forward as he braced one hand against his thigh and offered the other to Julius. He continued, “You know what you need to do now, don’t you? You should have done it a long time ago.”

Julius looked down at Ludger, draped across his lap, then at the darkness that had consumed his whole left hand. “There’s still a chance I’ll see him again.”

He heard Rideaux scoff. “The Trial is over. There’s no ‘perfect world’ waiting for you. All of this,” he imagined Rideaux flicking his fingers to indicate the bleak landscape around them, but didn’t look up to see, “is what’s left after your failure.” He leaned closer, hair brushing Julius’ face and shoulder. “I’m just the welcoming committee, you see. Soon, everyone will come along in your wake.”

“And Ludger?”

The teenager laughed, sharp and mocking. “He’s certainly racked up some sins in the recent past, hasn’t he? But no.” His voice gained that edge of amused sympathy once again. “Did you really think that he would end up in the same place as us?”

Tiredly, Julius shook his head. “I thought…that this bond was more important than anything else. But it turns out that it wasn’t worth it in the end.” He laughed, though the sound had nothing of humor in it. “It was all meaningless.”

He spent a last, long moment memorizing Ludger’s face.

Rideaux’s fingers were startlingly cold on Julius’ black skin when he took the offered hand. Chill spread out from that point of contact, leaching what heat remained in his Chromatus-ravaged body. The teenager hauled him to his feet as if he weighed nothing. Julius could feel his heart slowing, the edges of his vison going dark.

Looking down at the deceptively fragile form of what had been one of the few people he trusted, before Origin’s Trial had made it clear how futile such things were, Julius found himself saying, “I’m sorry.”

Rideaux’s lips turned up in a wry, regretful smile. “Oh, Julius. So am I.”


End file.
